WANDERUS
Road trips

Pacific Coast Highway, CA

California · Central Coast

Pacific Coast Highway, CA
Photo: Wikimedia Commons, credited in the site footer.
Entry Free to drive
Scale 656 miles
Est. 1934
Season May-Jun, Sep-Oct

Ninety minutes of cliff road at a time, with a bakery stop engineered into every hour.

Getting there

Start in San Francisco or Los Angeles and follow CA-1. Landslide closures are common in winter, so check Caltrans before the Big Sur section.

Don't miss

Best time to go

May to June and September to October; summer fog usually lifts by late morning. SR 1 runs 655.8 miles from Dana Point to Leggett.

Nearby

Monterey Big Sur San Luis Obispo

Costs and seasons change

Fees and visitor figures are taken from the National Park Service pages for this park; re-check nps.gov before you book. The planning copy is ours.

More like this

Yosemite Valley, CA $35 / vehicle

Yosemite Valley, CA

Sierra Nevada
Zion National Park, UT $35 / vehicle

Zion National Park, UT

Colorado Plateau
Grand Canyon South Rim, AZ $35 / vehicle

Grand Canyon South Rim, AZ

Colorado Plateau

Before you go

Do I need a reservation to visit the big parks?

Not at the time of writing. Yosemite dropped its timed-entry system, Grand Canyon states there is no timed entry, and Yellowstone does not require a vehicle reservation. Acadia is the exception: Cadillac Summit Road needs a $6 vehicle reservation between 20 May and 25 October 2026.

What does the $35 entrance fee actually cover?

One private vehicle and everyone inside it, for the park's stated period: seven days at Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Acadia, one to seven days at Zion. Motorcycles pay $30 and walkers or cyclists pay $20 per person.

Is there a surcharge for international visitors?

Yes. Each park page states that non-US residents aged 16 and over pay an additional $100 each, unless they hold an America the Beautiful annual pass or an annual park pass. It is per person, not per vehicle.